The city of Aurora will be watching, waiting to see how everything pans out for Denver and select Colorado cities where retail marijuana stores are opening this year.

The moratorium on the decision to allow retail marijuana stores in Aurora — where voters previously rejected medical dispensaries — will be in place until May.

The establishment of a three-member ad hoc committee of city council members Bob Roth, Molly Markert and Barb Cleland in May 2013 has resulted in a mountain of information and discussion on the potential implementation of retail marijuana in the city.

“It’s like starting a brand new business with no instructions,” Markert said.

One of the primary concerns of the committee, certainly something they pored over for months, was the potential locations of stores based on a capped amount of stores and geographical restrictions to sensitive properties.

A 5,000-foot buffer zone between all retail pot stores and a 500-foot buffer between schools, hospitals and religious institutions was a recommendation agreed upon by the committee in October.

The planning department then helped generate a map of hypothetical dispensary locations based on those restrictions.

By city zoning standards, all potential retail marijuana locations have to be in commercial areas like the Havana corridor and the Colfax Avenue Business District.

Business owners in those general areas have mixed feeling on their perspective retail neighbors.

“It’s not a good thing for society,” said Kazem Rezayi, owner of a sign-making business in Havana Square. “It’s good for the city because people will come from everywhere to smoke. Financially, it’s obvious what the city should do.”

Rezayi said he has nothing against marijuana users, but believes the industry will create a nagative culture in Colorado.

“We need more schools and libraries, not these kinds of stores,” he said.

“If it was there, we would have more problems on Colfax than we already do,” she said.

Down on East Hampden Avenue and South Chambers Road, Mike Dunkly, manager of Dry Dock Brewing Company, isn’t worried.

“It doesn’t really bother me at all,” he said. “We’ve got a killer neighborhood over here and a pretty strong community and I don’t think this will ruin it or anything.”

Based on the moratorium, the earliest a retail dispensary could open in Aurora would be October 2014.

The Facts

If Aurora City Council were to vote to allow retail marijuana stores in the city, there are very specific, very hypothetical neighborhoods where stores might be able to operate.

All potential locations are in commercial or industrial areas that are at least 500 feet away from schools, hospitals and other sensitive organizations. Any retail marijuana store to open in the city would have to be 5,000 feet away from any other cannabis businesses.

That left several distinct options, many in densely populated strip malls and at busy intersections. Some of those areas include:

Retail stores along Havana Street could crop up at the intersections of Colfax Avenue, Alameda Avenue, Mississippi Avenue, Iliff Avenue and South Hampden Street.

On Peoria Street, a store at the intersection of Colfax Avenue, Sixth Avenue, Iliff Avenue and the Interstate 225 exit could fit the model.

Along the I-225 corridor, stores at the exits of Colfax Avenue, Alameda Avenue, Mississippi Avenue and Parker Road are also possible.

On South Chambers Road, there could be 21-and-up pot shops on Alameda and Mississippi Avenues, and South Hampden Street and Parker Road.

South Buckley Road could take a retail marijuana store at Colfax, Sixth, Mississippi and Iliff Avenues.

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